Ken Faier

March 23, 2009 World Screen

El Presidente
Nerd Corps Entertainment

Amid the wave of consolidation taking place across the industry, Nerd Corps Entertainment is set on remaining an independent, "creator-driven" boutique company, says Ken Faier, who joined the outfit in 2005 after many years at Alliance Atlantis. "Creative is at the heart of everything we do, and then it’s building a business model around that," says Faier, "as opposed to creating the business model and then sticking creativity into it. Whenever it feels like we’re being opportunistic and reacting to something, it’s not necessarily the show we would have wanted to do. We’re very careful about which shows we participate in."
 
Formed in 2002, Nerd Corps built a strong work-for-hire business before venturing into proprietary content with Storm Hawks, signing up YTV, Cartoon Network, RTL II, ABC Australia and others as broadcast partners. The show is heading into its second season, and Faier has now turned his attention to shoring up partners on a comedy for the 8-to-13 set, League of Super Evil, a YTV commission. There are several other broadcasters attached, including the BBC, Cartoon Network in the U.S., Jetix Latin America, and Canal+ and Canal J in France.
 
With both shows, and with the titles Nerd Corps has in development, Faier says there is one guiding principle: "We’re doing proprietary development with a stylistic look that pushes the boundaries of CG and really takes 3-D out of the equation. It’s not about 3-D animation—it’s about characters that connect and stories and worlds that kids want to participate in."
 
And Faier is adamant that Nerd Corps be positioned as an "IP-content company of kids properties," stretching beyond the TV screen to meet viewers wherever they may be. "Certainly television is what we started in and have grown up in, but the intention has always been to create properties that are universal beyond whatever platform they may be on. Television production certainly is a forte and it continues to be a key driver. Over the last couple of years we have been spending more of our resources and time to extend our properties in the online medium as well as through video-game relationships we have been exploring."
 
A new-media element is particularly crucial for the new show League of Super Evil, Faier says. "We brought in a full team to develop an online experience for it. That’s launching day and date with the show with a fairly robust [offering, including a] multiplayer trading card game."
 
Understanding properties as brands is integral to finding success in the kids’ business today, Faier adds. And it is that ability to play in many different media that has kept Faier in the children’s content market for all these years. "You can be talking to a broadcaster one day and you can be talking to a manufacturer of kids’ underwear the next day. So many different industries come together to reach children through entertainment. Kids are the most amazing audience. They’re very quick to go from TV to the web to the handheld video game to a comic book. They’re so engaged in those properties—it’s rewarding.